editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Ari Shapiro has reported from above the Arctic Circle and aboard Air Force One. He has covered wars in Iraq, Ukraine, and Israel, and he has filed stories from five continents. (Sorry, Australia.) In 2015, Shapiro joined Kelly McEvers, Audie Cornish and Robert Siegel as a weekday co-host of All Things Considered , NPR's award-winning afternoon newsmagazine. Shapiro was previously NPR's International Correspondent based in London, from where he traveled the world covering a wide range of topics for NPR's national news programs. Shapiro joined NPR's international desk in 2014 after four years as White House Correspondent during President Barack Obama's first and second terms. In 2012, Shapiro embedded with the presidential campaign of Republican Mitt Romney. He was NPR Justice Correspondent for five years during the George W. Bush Administration, covering one of the most tumultuous periods in the Department's history. Shapiro is a frequent guest analyst on television news programs, andNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Ari ShapiroFri, 06 Oct 2017 10:41:00 +0000Ari Shapirohttp://kios.org
Ari ShapiroIn 2011, Jennifer Egan won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, A Visit From The Goon Squad. Years before that book came out, Egan had begun researching the 1930s and '40s in New York City. Her new novel, Manhattan Beach , is the result of that research. It follows a father, his daughter and a gangster whose lives intersect in New York around World War II. The daughter, Anna, becomes the first woman to work as a deep-sea diver at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which presented a particular kind of challenge for Egan: In reality, there were no women divers at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. She says, "One of the big technical challenges of my storytelling was: How can I do justice to what I know would've been a very, very poisonous atmosphere ... while also making it credible that she actually becomes a diver? And in a way, what came to my rescue was the fact that it was wartime and all kinds of things were happening then that would not happen at a normal time." Interview Highlights On consulting withIn 'Manhattan Beach,' Jennifer Egan Dives Deep Into WWII New York Cityhttp://kios.org/post/manhattan-beach-jennifer-egan-dives-deep-wwii-new-york-city
98917 as http://kios.orgThu, 05 Oct 2017 21:33:00 +0000In 'Manhattan Beach,' Jennifer Egan Dives Deep Into WWII New York CityAri ShapiroJournalist Franklin Foer worries that we're all losing our minds as big tech companies infiltrate every aspect of our lives. In his new book, World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech , Foer compares the way we feel about technology now to the way people felt about pre-made foods, like TV dinners, when they were first invented. "And we thought that they were brilliant because they did away with pots and pans — we didn't have to go to the store to go shopping every day — and then we woke up 50 years later and realize that these products had been basically engineered to make us fat," Foer says. "And I worry that the same thing is happening now to the things that we ingest through our mind." Interview Highlights On why tech companies' control of the market is problematic They pose as these neutral marketplaces, yet when they have their own things to sell, they give them special advantages. We saw this with Yelp and Google, where Yelp was this great way to get recommendations'World Without Mind': How Tech Companies Pose An Existential Threathttp://kios.org/post/world-without-mind-how-tech-companies-pose-existential-threat
98014 as http://kios.orgMon, 11 Sep 2017 22:31:00 +0000'World Without Mind': How Tech Companies Pose An Existential ThreatAri ShapiroCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: People in China and South Korea felt a tremor over the weekend. It came from an underground explosion in North Korea. The North said it successfully detonated an advanced hydrogen bomb. There's no independent confirmation, but it appears the device tested was the country's most powerful yet. This has made a global crisis more intense. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) NIKKI HALEY: Enough is enough. SHAPIRO: The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting this morning in New York. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley had a warning for North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) HALEY: His abusive use of missiles and his nuclear threats show that he is begging for war. War is never something the United States wants. We don't want it now. But our country's patience is not unlimited. We will defend our allies and our territory. SHAPIRO: Delegates from other countries said the focus needs to be onU.N. Security Council Urges More Robust Action Against North Koreahttp://kios.org/post/un-security-council-urges-more-robust-action-against-north-korea
97747 as http://kios.orgMon, 04 Sep 2017 20:50:00 +0000U.N. Security Council Urges More Robust Action Against North KoreaAri ShapiroA decade ago, Nguyen Tran ran a small private company producing independent films, while his wife Thi Tran worked in advertising. When the economy crashed in 2008, Nguyen's projects began to run dry and Thi lost her job the following year. Out of desperation, they started an illegal underground restaurant in their North Hollywood apartment. They called it "Starry Kitchen," named after Thi's favorite Cantonese cooking show from Hong Kong. Eight years and many iterations later, the underground restaurant no longer exists. But Starry Kitchen won a nationwide following, with reverent write-ups in national newspapers and food magazines. And Nguyen and Thi have captured the story and recipes in a new memoir and cookbook, "Adventures in Starry Kitchen: 88 Asian-Inspired Recipes From America's Most Famous Underground Restaurant." "Asian-inspired" is a broad umbrella. The cookbook includes recipes for Korean spicy noodles, and also chicken fried steak. The Trans grew up in Dallas, Texas; bothStarry Kitchen Cookbook: The Rocky Journey Of A Famed Underground Restauranthttp://kios.org/post/starry-kitchen-cookbook-rocky-journey-famed-underground-restaurant
97341 as http://kios.orgFri, 25 Aug 2017 18:24:00 +0000Starry Kitchen Cookbook: The Rocky Journey Of A Famed Underground RestaurantAri ShapiroDespite a title which might lead you to believe otherwise, Good Time is not an easy-going, popcorn flick; the gritty, pulp thriller falls into a genre that could be described as "movies about very, very bad nights." Robert Pattinson plays Connie Nikas, a small-time criminal trying to get his brother Nick out of jail after a bank robbery gone wrong. Brotherhood frames the movie, both on-screen and behind the scenes — Benny Safdie, who plays the character of Nick, directed the movie with his brother, Josh Safdie. But the directors insist that the movie's fraternal themes weren't entirely conscious. "This fraternal element was something that we don't even have to think about," Josh Safdie says. "We just kind of bring it to the movie." Interview Highlights On casting the character of the brother Nick, who has an intellectual disability Josh Safdie: We were looking into casting actors with real disabilities and we were very far along in that process and we were interviewing a lot of people 'Good Time' Filmmakers Wanted To Make A Movie That 'Actually Feels Dangerous'http://kios.org/post/good-time-filmmakers-wanted-make-movie-actually-feels-dangerous
97271 as http://kios.orgWed, 23 Aug 2017 22:39:00 +0000'Good Time' Filmmakers Wanted To Make A Movie That 'Actually Feels Dangerous'Ari ShapiroThe push for renewable energy in the U.S. often focuses on well-established sources of electricity: solar, wind and hydropower. Off the coast of California, a team of researchers is working on what they hope will become an energy source of the future — macroalgae, otherwise known as kelp. The Pacific Coast is known for its vast kelp forests. It's one of the fastest-growing plants on Earth, and farming it requires no fertilizer, fresh water, pesticides, or arable land. "It can grow 2 to 3 feet per day," says Diane Kim, one of the scientists running the kelp research project at the University of Southern California. Kelp is transformed into biofuel by a process called thermochemical liquefaction. The kelp is dried out, and the salt is washed away. Then it's turned into bio-oil through a high-temperature, high-pressure conversion process. Some small companies are growing kelp as a substitute for kale in the U.S., but that's exactly the problem – very, very few are doing it. Thus, theScientists Hope To Farm The Biofuel Of The Future In The Pacific Oceanhttp://kios.org/post/scientists-hope-farm-biofuel-future-pacific-ocean
97221 as http://kios.orgTue, 22 Aug 2017 22:08:00 +0000Scientists Hope To Farm The Biofuel Of The Future In The Pacific OceanAri ShapiroAuthor Karl Ove Knausgaard — known for his six-volume autobiographical series, My Struggle — has embarked on a brand new multi-part project. Autumn , the first in a four-part quartet, is a collection of texts, each focused on a single subject. In these short studies, Knausgaard considers a wide variety of tangible and intangible topics — apples, wasps, silence, jellyfish, fingers, forgiveness, dawn. He weaves those texts in with letters to his youngest daughter, written before her birth. Observing the blood in his veins, the grass growing from the earth and the trees in the wind, he writes: "These astounding things, which you will soon encounter and see for yourself, are so easy to lose sight of, and there are almost as many ways of doing that as there are people. That is why I am writing this book for you. I want to show you the world, as it is, all around us, all the time. Only by doing so will I myself be able to glimpse it." Knausgaard's daughter is now 3 1/2, and her capacity forKnausgaard's 'Autumn' Considers Everything From Toilet Bowls To Twilighthttp://kios.org/post/knausgaards-autumn-considers-everything-toilet-bowls-twilight
97216 as http://kios.orgTue, 22 Aug 2017 21:02:00 +0000Knausgaard's 'Autumn' Considers Everything From Toilet Bowls To TwilightAri ShapiroCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: The Supreme Court says it is unconstitutional for juveniles to serve mandatory life sentences without parole. They call it cruel and unusual punishment. The justices issued that ruling five years ago and clarified last year that it also applies to thousands of people already serving time. The Associated Press decided to find out whether states are following that directive. Reporters conducted an investigation across all 50 states, and they've been publishing their findings as a series this week. Adam Geller is one of the reporters on the story. Welcome to the program. ADAM GELLER: Thanks very much for having me. SHAPIRO: So what did you find? GELLER: We found there are more than 2,000 of these juvenile life cases around the country. And what is perhaps surprising is even after a really pretty sweeping ruling by the Supreme Court that these cases need to be revisited and that these offenders, unless they are deemed to be theAn Investigation Into Juvenile Life Without Parolehttp://kios.org/post/investigation-juvenile-life-without-parole
96455 as http://kios.orgWed, 02 Aug 2017 20:15:00 +0000An Investigation Into Juvenile Life Without ParoleAri ShapiroCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit KELLY MCEVERS, HOST: Someone we have heard on this program over the last year died suddenly on Friday. Billy Manes was a leader in Orlando's gay community. He edited the city's LGBT newspaper, Watermark. Our cohost, Ari Shapiro, has this remembrance. ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: If you're picturing a grizzled and jaded newspaper editor, erase that image. Billy Manes crackled with energy. Platinum blond hair seemed to shoot off his head like an explosion in an old "Road Runner" cartoon. His clothes added to the effect, like a favorite vintage leather jacket in bright lemon yellow. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST) SHAPIRO: Billy. BILLY MANES: Hi, Ari. SHAPIRO: Hi. MANES: It's nice to meet you. SHAPIRO: The first time I met Billy was just over a year ago. It was one of the most difficult times in Orlando's history - days after a gunman killed 49 people at a gay club. Billy Manes was an anchor and a voice for a community that needed both. And even in theBilly Manes, Voice For Orlando's Gay Community After Pulse Shooting, Dies at 45http://kios.org/post/billy-manes-voice-orlandos-gay-community-after-pulse-shooting-dies-45
96076 as http://kios.orgMon, 24 Jul 2017 21:43:00 +0000Billy Manes, Voice For Orlando's Gay Community After Pulse Shooting, Dies at 45Ari ShapiroLawrence Osborne has lived in half a dozen countries all over the world. He's set his previous books in Morocco, Cambodia and France. His latest novel, Beautiful Animals, is a sun-drenched summer novel with a shadow of death hanging over it. It follows a young, wealthy woman named Naomi, vacationing on the idyllic Greek island of Hydra. "I haven't written about Europe for a very long time. ..." Osborne says. "It's a sort of a homecoming for me, in a way. These landscapes I know from my childhood. ... Memories came up from deeper places, which I hadn't expected." The extraordinary thing about certain parts of Greece, the author says, is that some locations haven't changed very much in 3,000 years. The novel, which centers around a man washed ashore, includes many references to the epic Greek poem the Odyssey. "There is something haunting to me in the idea that this story could recur in the same landscape," Osborne says. Interview Highlights On Naomi discovering a Syrian refugee hidingLawrence Osborne Doesn't Care If You Like His Characters In 'Beautiful Animals'http://kios.org/post/lawrence-osborne-doesnt-care-if-you-his-characters-beautiful-animals
95711 as http://kios.orgFri, 14 Jul 2017 22:00:00 +0000Lawrence Osborne Doesn't Care If You Like His Characters In 'Beautiful Animals'Ari ShapiroIn American cities, the murder rate has kept rising over the last couple of years. One of the most violent cities in the U.S. is Baltimore. That's where 22-year-old photographer Amy Berbert lives. She's been documenting every murder that took place in Baltimore in 2016. The city has more than twice as many homicides per capita as Chicago. "Same place, same time, same day, one year later," Berbert says about her project, in which she captures the site of each homicide. Each image goes on social media, where she runs the account, Remembering the Stains on the Sidewalk, on Instagram and Facebook. "And for me that's the biggest piece is that I have to plan my life, around these people's death," she says. "I'm missing my cousin's wedding, but these people will never be able to go to another wedding again. So it's a small sacrifice considering this 318 people will never see these opportunities again." She took the first photo on Jan. 1, 2016, and she will take the last one on New Year's Eve.'Stains On The Sidewalk': Photographer Remembers Year Of Murders In Baltimorehttp://kios.org/post/stains-sidewalk-photographer-remembers-year-murders-baltimore
95665 as http://kios.orgThu, 13 Jul 2017 21:25:00 +0000'Stains On The Sidewalk': Photographer Remembers Year Of Murders In BaltimoreAri ShapiroWhen senators come back to Washington on Monday, a handful of Republicans will help decide the fate of legislation that could reshape health care in America. One of them is Nevada Republican Dean Heller. Sen. Heller is one of a small bunch of Republicans who have said they will not support the latest draft proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Republican leadership can only lose the support of two of its own senators and still pass such a bill. The Republican senators who say they'll vote no on the latest health care plan fall into two camps. Members of the party's right wing think this proposal is too timid and doesn't go far enough to undo the Affordable Care Act. More moderate Republicans, like Heller, think it is harsh and goes too far. "I'm telling you right now, I cannot support a piece of legislation that takes away insurance away from tens of millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Nevadans," he said. Nevada's popular governor, BrianNevada Voters, Divided Over Health Care, Put Moderate Republican In Tough Spothttp://kios.org/post/nevada-voters-divided-over-health-care-put-moderate-republican-tough-spot
95422 as http://kios.orgFri, 07 Jul 2017 19:55:00 +0000Nevada Voters, Divided Over Health Care, Put Moderate Republican In Tough SpotAri ShapiroIf you crack open a beer this Fourth of July, history might not be the first thing on your mind. But for Theresa McCulla , the first brewing historian at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, the story of beer is the story of America. "If you want to talk about the history of immigration in America, or urbanization or the expansion of transportation networks, really any subject that you want to explore, you can talk about it through beer," McCulla says. Since taking the job earlier this year, she has combed through the Smithsonian's archives and pulled out treasures that show beer's part in American history — whether that has to do with advertising, technology, gender roles or even popular entertainment. Pointing to some sheet music in the collection for a song called "Budweiser Is a Friend of Mine," she explains that the tune premiered on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Follies in 1907. "The lyrics of the song tell the story of a man who goes out drinking in a bar and singsHow The Story Of Beer Is The Story Of Americahttp://kios.org/post/how-story-beer-story-america
95247 as http://kios.orgMon, 03 Jul 2017 18:14:00 +0000How The Story Of Beer Is The Story Of AmericaAri ShapiroCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: More than 18 million people live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The federal government has put a lot of money and effort into cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, and the plan is working. But now that the Trump administration is in charge, the bay cleanup may be in jeopardy. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: I recently went out to meet one man whose farming practices have changed as policies to clean up the bay have also changed. We're about an hour and a half drive from Washington, D.C., in the part of Maryland where suburban sprawl has faded into farmers' fields, passing little creeks that drain into the Chesapeake Bay. And we're going to visit the farm of a man named Chip Bowling. He grows corn out here. And in fact, he's the chairman of the National Corn Growers Association. CHIP BOWLING: Good morning. Hey, there. SHAPIRO: Hey, I'm Ari. BOWLING: Hi, good morning. Chip Bowling. How are you? SHAPIRO: Good morning. Good to meet you. BOWLING:Maryland Farmer Fights To Keep Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Alivehttp://kios.org/post/maryland-farmer-fights-keep-chesapeake-bay-cleanup-alive
95118 as http://kios.orgThu, 29 Jun 2017 20:31:00 +0000Maryland Farmer Fights To Keep Chesapeake Bay Cleanup AliveAri ShapiroDrive east from Washington and eventually you run smack into the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, the massive estuary that stretches from the mouth of the Susquehanna River at Maryland's northern tip and empties into the Atlantic 200 miles away near Norfolk, Va. The Chesapeake is home to oysters, clams, and famous Maryland blue crab. It's the largest estuary in the United States. And for a long time, it was one of the most polluted . Decades of runoff from grassy suburban yards and farm fields as far north as New York state, plus sewage and other waste dumped by the hundreds of gallons, made the Chesapeake so dirty that by 1983, the crab population had plummeted to just 2 percent of what Capt. John Smith saw when he explored the bay in the 1600s. For years, people tried to clean it up. States and the federal government spent millions of dollars. The first effort began in 1983 — officially launched by President Ronald Reagan in his 1984 State of the Union Address . And each time, theChesapeake Bay Dead Zones Are Fading, But Proposed EPA Cuts Threaten Successhttp://kios.org/post/chesapeake-bay-dead-zones-are-fading-proposed-epa-cuts-threaten-success
95068 as http://kios.orgWed, 28 Jun 2017 21:22:00 +0000Chesapeake Bay Dead Zones Are Fading, But Proposed EPA Cuts Threaten SuccessAri ShapiroIn Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt , Titus Andromedon is a show-stealing character. Tituss Burgess plays the mostly out-of-work actor who's black, gay and an endearing friend to the very naive Kimmy Schmidt. Burgess may share a first name with his over-the-top character, but he says they're plenty different. Unlike Andromedon, Burgess is a quiet homebody who doesn't need to be the center of attention. He grew up in small-town Georgia before making his way to Broadway and then TV. It's a journey that required many leaps of faith, and he credits one woman with giving him the confidence to take those leaps. "Lena Horne," he says. "I saw The Wiz when I was in the seventh grade. ... The authority with which she sang [' If You Believe' ], watching her telling Dorothy, you know, how exactly to get to where she wants to be, and the way she looked down the barrel of the lens — you could not tell me that this woman was not singing to me. ... I would go back and forth to the library and rent The Wiz ,Tituss Burgess Says He Plays The Most 'Everyman' Character On 'Kimmy Schmidt'http://kios.org/post/tituss-burgess-says-he-plays-most-everyman-character-kimmy-schmidt
94982 as http://kios.orgMon, 26 Jun 2017 21:55:00 +0000Tituss Burgess Says He Plays The Most 'Everyman' Character On 'Kimmy Schmidt'Ari ShapiroMike and Amy Mills are a father-daughter team from southern Illinois. Mike was trained as a dental technician. "I made false teeth — crowns, bridges, partials — this type of thing. It's what I did as a trade," he recalls. "Later on, I started barbecuing just for the fun of doing it." And that's what made him famous. Mike is 75 now. Along with a pen and glasses, he carries a meat thermometer in his shirt pocket. He doesn't like to brag, but he has won numerous international barbecue competitions. He is even in the Barbecue Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Mo. In short, the guy standing on my porch on a recent rainy day is a barbecue legend. With his daughter Amy, he runs a place in Murphysboro, Ill., called 17th Street Barbecue , where they spread "the gospel of barbecue," as Amy puts it. Hence the title of their new cookbook, Praise the Lard: Recipes and Revelations from a Legendary Life in Barbecue. It has simple recipes like pimento cheese and tangy coleslaw, as well as more ambitious'Praise The Lard': A Barbecue Legend Shows Us How To Master Smoked Chicken Wingshttp://kios.org/post/praise-lard-barbecue-legend-shows-us-how-master-smoked-chicken-wings
93773 as http://kios.orgFri, 26 May 2017 18:15:00 +0000'Praise The Lard': A Barbecue Legend Shows Us How To Master Smoked Chicken WingsAri ShapiroA wooden puzzle in the silhouette of a human head might look fun if the stakes weren't so high. Historians at Smithsonian Magazine say this simple puzzle containing facial features broken into pieces was administered to immigrants at Ellis Island in the early 1900s. The goal was to weed out the "feeble-minded" and ensure that a "better class" of foreign-born people was ushered into U.S. citizenship. The puzzle is currently housed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The Feature Profile Test — the formal name for this puzzle — sprang out of an idealistic policy that was supposed to be fair, writes historian Adam Cohen. A doctor named Howard Knox invented it after officials struggled to administer IQ tests to immigrants because of issues with language and literacy. "This was in some ways a progressive reform," Cohen says. "The idea that this would be a puzzle that no matter where you were born in the world, where you came from, people generally had the idea of what aThis Simple Puzzle Test Sealed The Fate Of Immigrants At Ellis Islandhttp://kios.org/post/simple-puzzle-test-sealed-fate-immigrants-ellis-island
93394 as http://kios.orgWed, 17 May 2017 22:32:00 +0000This Simple Puzzle Test Sealed The Fate Of Immigrants At Ellis IslandAri ShapiroAmelia Meath and Nick Sanborn each spent time in bands that never made it big. But when the two of them joined up to create Sylvan Esso , everything changed. They started filling up high-profile music venues, became famous internationally and almost immediately started to feel pressure to make magic a second time. Now, three years after the band's debut, Sylvan Esso has a sophomore album, out Friday. The name of the record, What Now , offers some insight into how Meath and Sanborn felt making it. "We realized we had just grown up a lot since the last record had happened," Sanborn says. "And I think the biggest lesson we kept coming back to, the biggest 'growing up' lesson, was this realization that nothing is ever over, and that no great success is going to save you, no love is going to make you a better person ... and on the flip side, that no defeat is ever the end." Meath and Sanborn spoke with NPR's Ari Shapiro about what was on their minds as they worked on What Now , includingSylvan Esso On The Pressure To Make Magic — Againhttp://kios.org/post/sylvan-esso-pressure-make-magic-again
92547 as http://kios.orgThu, 27 Apr 2017 21:00:00 +0000Sylvan Esso On The Pressure To Make Magic — AgainAri ShapiroTwo years ago, life was good for Sheryl Sandberg. The Facebook senior executive and mother of two had a best-selling book ( Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead ) and she and her husband, Dave Goldberg, decided to take a vacation. But on that vacation, Goldberg collapsed at the gym from heart failure and died. He was 47 years old. Sandberg went through a period of darkness after her husband's death. She turned to professionals and friends for help getting through it, and now she's written a book with one of those professionals, psychologist Adam Grant. It's called Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy . Sandberg spoke to NPR about finding her way back to normal and the best way to be there for someone who's going through a hard time. Interview Highlights On how the people around her reacted to her loss My interactions before — I would drop my kids off at school and, you know, the parents and I would all wave to each other; show up at work and everyone'Just Show Up': Sheryl Sandberg On How To Help Someone Who's Grievinghttp://kios.org/post/just-show-sheryl-sandberg-how-help-someone-whos-grieving
92456 as http://kios.orgTue, 25 Apr 2017 21:10:00 +0000'Just Show Up': Sheryl Sandberg On How To Help Someone Who's Grieving